Could you give a bit of a description on how it works? e.g. what sensors do you use? How mucah of it's motion is autonomous?

Thanks richiereynolds...

It is fully autonomous !... it makes use of Infrared sensor to sense any blockage ahead (25 cm), if it does, it stops and identifies if the obstruction:

1) has a gap underneath (Task 1)2) is a slope (Task 2)3) is a sudden height (Task 3)

it does that using IR sensor which can orientate up and down, it measures distances to identify if it is Task 1, 2 or 3.

And, the whole time it is walking, not only it checks for blockage ahead, but it keeps on checking if the light-sensors (that are located on its feet) senses a 'larger' distance (black + light-ON) when the foot is down ! [it checks for light-sensor value only when each time the foot is down] - if it senses larger distance, that means the surface is Irregular ! (Task 4) - it steps backwards in order to Transform.

That's nice! very clever! I just have one question though: why does it ever use the 4 legged walking mode? It looks really slow and clumsy, not the most effective way of getting around on a shiny floor!

That's nice! very clever! I just have one question though: why does it ever use the 4 legged walking mode? It looks really slow and clumsy, not the most effective way of getting around on a shiny floor!

Fantastic work though!

Thanks Chris,

It needs to be in 4-legged position as its 'default configuration', so that its IR sensor is in much higher position and can sense what obstruction is ahead of it, so, ANY other configuration would have prevented it from identifying the task.

By the way, its walking gait was suppose to be like animals'.. but i was forced to "reduce 1 servo" from each leg due to its weight and some electrical (power) problems - I was running out of time - that was the only solution I got !

Anyway, "building a robot" was not even a part of my project, I wasn't assessed on that either. I built it to prove my 'research' (design), but mainly for fun !... so pls dont expect it to be 'perfect'.